UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Following an excellent winter sports campaign, highlighted by its third consecutive NCAA Wrestling Championship, Penn State has moved up to No. 2 in the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup Standings.
Penn State has accumulated 674.5 total points, including 351 points this winter, winning the national title in wrestling, finishing third in fencing, ninth in men’s indoor track and field, 20th in men’s swimming and diving, and 29th in women’s swimming and diving.
Stanford, which has won 18 consecutive Directors' Cup titles, leads the standings with 685.5 points. The Cardinal are followed by Penn State (674.50), Notre Dame (610), Michigan (606) and Florida (575.5) to round out the top five. A total of 10 of the 15 NCAA Winter Championships have been completed. The next set of standings will be released after the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball championships.
The Nittany Lion wrestling team, under the direction of head coach Cael Sanderson, won its third straight NCAA Wrestling Championship, continuing a run of dominance that began in Philadelphia in 2011. The Nittany Lions also crowned two NCAA Individual National Champions as Ed Ruth (Harrisburg, Pa.), and Quentin Wright (Wingate, Pa.) each claimed titles. The team championship is the third in a row for the Nittany Lions and the fourth NCAA title all time. Penn State also won NCAA titles in 2011 in Philadelphia and 2012 in St. Louis.
The Penn State fencing team completed yet another successful season that was capped off with a third place finish at the 2013 NCAA Championships. Eight Penn State fencers took home All-America honors. In his 31 years at Penn State, head coach Emmanuil Kaidanov has coached 191 fencers to All-American nods. Olympian Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia) and 2010 National Champion Margherita Guzzi Vincenti (Milan, Italy) each claimed their fourth All-American title in their stellar careers.
The Nittany Lion men’s track and field program wrapped up a record-setting indoor campaign this year, posting a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships at the University of Arkansas. Penn State was paced by a pair of runner-up finishes at the championships, and brought home a grand total of six U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association First Team All-Americans in the effort. Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan’s Nittany Lions claimed school records in nine events in 2013, while also setting all-time collegiate bests in two disciplines.
The No. 24 Penn State men's swimming finished the 2013 NCAA Championships 20th with a total of 52 points. The Nittany Lions were led by sophomore Nate Savoy (Reading, Pa.), who earned honorable mention All-America accolades for the second time. On the women’s side, Coach John Hargis’ squad ended the NCAA Championships with 21 points to finish in 29th place.
The Nittany Lions placed No. 12 in the 2011-12 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup to earn their 14th Top 15 finish. Penn State is one of only nine programs nationwide to have finished in the Top 25 in all 20 years, joining Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio State, Southern California, Stanford, Texas and UCLA.
Penn State has won 23 NCAA Championships since 1993-94, its first full year in the Big Ten Conference, more than double every other Big Ten institution. Iowa is second with 10. The Nittany Lions have won 12 NCAA Championships since March 2007, tied with USC for best in the nation over the past six years.
Penn State has won 80 Big Ten Championships all-time, including a school record seven in 2012-13.
The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings were developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 20 sports -- 10 women's and 10 men’s.